Freising, Germany & Moscow, Russia, June 25, 2013

XL-protein and GENERIUM announce the closing of a license and a collaboration agreement. Under these agreements, XL-protein will license a PASylated blood clotting factor and apply its proprietary PASylation^® technology for plasma-half life extension to a cytokine, respectively, for use in the Russian Federation and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

GENERIUM acquires exclusive marketing rights for the Russian Federation and CIS and will assume responsibility for further development and marketing of said compounds within this territory. XL-protein retains development and marketing rights for Rest of World.

Under the terms of the license agreement, XL-protein receives a seven digit US$ upfront payment upon signing of the agreement. In addition, XL-protein will receive payments for the achievement of preclinical, clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones as well as significant royalties on sales.

“This strategic cooperation with a renowned pharmaceutical company of GENERIUM’s caliber demonstrates the high potential of our PASylation^® technology to develop biologics with superior activities”, noted Prof. Dr. Arne Skerra, CEO of XL-protein.

“Setting up multiple international collaborations is a key element of Generium’s strategy. The Company provides unique opportunities for international collaborative R&D projects which are often associated with technology and know-how transfer and are actively supported by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade”, noted PhD Sergey Ruchko, CEO of IBC Generium.

XL-protein’s proprietary PASylation^® technology is a biological alternative to PEGylation, conferring an expanded hydrodynamic volume onto the biopharma-ceutical which leads to retarded kidney filtration based on a molecular size effect. A tunable prolonged plasma half-life by a factor 10-100 has been demonstrated for various compounds in preclinical animal studies. Thus, PASylation^® offers a cost-effective and patient-friendly solution to a general problem in biopharmaceutical drug development.

First data from this collaboration will be presented at the 38th Congress of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 6-11, 2013.

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